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How to Sell Your Sourdough Without a Farmers Market | Episode 13

Nov 12, 2024
7 min read

Updated: Aug 13

Listen on Apple Podcasts


Farmers markets close down after Labor Day in a lot of places, and if the market is your only sales channel, that is your whole income gone for the season. Some of you are in the other situation, where the market has never fit your life at all and you are quietly wondering whether that means you cannot do this.


You can. There are plenty of ways to sell your bread that have nothing to do with a booth and a tent, and most of them are steadier income than a market anyway.


I am going to give you a lot of ideas here. You do not need all of them. Read through, pick one or two that feel doable and a little exciting, and leave the rest. And check your state's cottage food law before you commit to any of them, because a few of these are not legal everywhere.


Porch pickup, the one most of us run on

Porch pickup is the backbone of most home microbakeries. You take orders on set days and customers pick up on a set day.


Here is my rhythm. My menu goes live Sunday afternoon and my followers get a text at 3:30 with the menu. They place their order, the menu closes on Tuesday, and they get an automated reminder Tuesday morning in case they forgot. Pickup is Thursday between 11 and 6.


Your days will be different, and they should be. Build the schedule around your life, then keep it the same long enough for people to learn it.


When I started, my capacity was lower, so I ran two pickup days a week. I could bake four loaves a day, and two days meant eight loaves a week. As my capacity grew it made sense to condense down to one bake day. Now my customers know exactly what to expect, and that consistency is a real part of why the orders come in.


The four decisions that make or break a pickup system

How you take orders and payment. Use an ordering platform built for a microbakery. I use the Simply Bread App and have since February, and it has streamlined a lot for me. Their customer service is excellent, they keep improving the app, and the automated texting alone saves me hours. My customers get a text when the menu opens, a text when it is closing, and a reminder about pickup. I used to do all of that by hand. It also lets me cap my inventory in about two clicks.


Hotplate is very similar with a lot of the same abilities. I have not used it myself, but everything I hear about it is complimentary. The fee structure is close to Simply Bread, slightly higher, with a few more capabilities. Those are the two main options and I would point you at one of them. Do your own research and pick the one that fits.


Most of these platforms take prepayment in full, which I prefer. Customers pay when they order, they grab their bag, and nobody is doing math on my porch. Simply Bread does have a cash option if you need it. Venmo works too, and if you go that route, use a business account.


How you communicate. Decide whether you are texting from your personal number, messaging through Facebook, or texting through your ordering platform. I use a service called Project Broadcast, about $22 a month. It gives me a local number so customers recognize the area code without having my actual cell number, and every conversation lives in the app where I can search by customer or by keyword. I looked hard at the alternatives and most texting platforms are far more expensive. I am not affiliated with them, I just use it.


How the pickup itself works. I have a covered porch, so I set out a couple of shelves on pickup day, put each order in a labeled paper bag, and people grab theirs and go. Sometimes they knock and we chat. If you do not have a covered spot, keep everything inside and put out a sign inviting people to knock so you can hand the order over.


Use pickup windows and have customers choose one. Hotplate and Simply Bread both do this. Here in south Texas I feel much better about not leaving someone's bread sitting out in the heat for six hours, and it also keeps your afternoon from turning into an all-day wait.


How people find out. Consistency is the entire game. Do not post once, get no traction, and decide it does not work. People need to hear about you many times before they are ready to buy from you. You will see numbers like seven exposures thrown around, and I have heard as high as twenty or thirty. The exact number does not matter. The principle does.


When I was getting started it was not unusual to have a week with a single order. After about a year of showing up week after week, I can count on orders coming in reliably. That took time and it took not being discouraged by the slow weeks.


Watch your capacity while you build it

In my first few months I had days where I was scrambling to get bread out of the oven before people arrived, and that stress was not worth the extra revenue.


So I scaled my pickups back to a number I could comfortably hit. Yes, I left some money on the table. I would much rather run a business that lasts than push the gas until the whole thing goes up in flames. Schedule enough prep time before your pickup window opens, and check in with your capacity honestly. You should be able to deliver everything you promised and still get enough sleep.


Partner with local businesses

Depending on your cottage food law, you may be able to place your product on a local shelf. Coffee shops, cafes, health food stores, specialty grocers and boutiques all work.


Where wholesale is not permitted, do a regular pop-up instead. Find a business that serves the same kind of customer you do and set up there once a week or once a month. It works for them when you bring in people who would not otherwise walk through their door, so pitch it that way.


If wholesale is allowed where you live, research the local stores that already lean artisan, local and health focused. Then go in with a real pitch: what makes your bread different from what is already on their shelf, and why their customers want it. Bring samples of several of the loaves you would supply. A small section in one local store does a lot for your visibility.


Gourmet kitchen shops and local wine shops are worth a conversation too. They are often looking for exactly this kind of partnership.


Subscriptions and delivery

A subscription is customers prepaying to receive a loaf every week or a seasonal item every month. It gives you recurring income you can actually plan around, and it is perfect for the customers who love your bread and constantly forget to order.


If you add delivery, set it up properly before you offer it. Decide who is driving, you or someone you pay. Charge enough to make it worth the time. Put a real radius on it, and say so up front. Many bakeries deliver free inside five miles and charge more beyond that. What you do not want is to discover mid-drive that you agreed to a 20 mile round trip for one loaf.


Delivery does not fit my life at all and I have said no to it completely. That is a legitimate answer.


A few less obvious ones

Corporate gifting. Companies are always looking for something to give employees and clients, especially heading into the holidays. You can sell bulk orders for them to assemble, or curate the gift baskets yourself with a few of your products. Put together a proposal and a sample basket and take it to the businesses you would like to work with, real estate brokerages, insurance offices, anyone whose customers look like yours. Offer a small, medium and large option so there is something for every budget.


Event packages. If you know anyone who organizes conferences or events, ask about the participant bags. A scone or a cookie in a goody bag is a large order for you and puts your bread in front of a room full of new people.


Teaching workshops. I have taught sourdough workshops and they are some of the most rewarding work I do. Bakers worry that teaching people to bake means losing customers. That has not been my experience. If I lose one here and there, I am genuinely fine with it, because it means good bread is getting made in their kitchen. Most of my workshop students keep buying my specialty breads and bake the basic loaf at home.


If you are already established

If you have a full pre-order list every week, the question is different. You do not need more ideas, you need the right second channel.


Look at your existing numbers and pick the option that earns the most per hour of your time, not per loaf. A standing wholesale account or a subscription runs on the bake you are already doing. A pop-up costs you a whole morning every time. A workshop earns well but eats a weekend.


Add one channel, run it for a full season, and measure it before you add another. Two channels done consistently beat five you are always apologizing for.


Final thoughts

The market is one way to sell bread. It is not the only way, and for a lot of us it is not even the best one. Every strategy here is somebody's whole business right now.


Pick one. Give it a season of consistent effort before you decide whether it works. You have more room to grow this thing than you think!


Cheering you on,


Caroline


Keep going

If you are rebuilding how you sell, these three go deeper.


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